Find a Book Festival
Scotland is a nation of readers and boasts more than 50 book and literary festivals held throughout the year from Stornoway to the Scottish Borders and from Skye to Aberdeen.
We aim to collate a full, up-to-date list of all the book festivals so please let us know if there are any events that should be included or details to be updated via email on admin@literaturealliancescotland.co.uk or on Twitter @LitScotland.
Happy reading around the nation!
Book Festivals in Scotland
| MONTH | DATE | EVENT | WEBSITE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JANUARY | 21 Jan - 9 Feb 2020 | Burns&Beyond | @burnsandbeyond | burnsandbeyond.com |
| 24-26 Jan 2020 | Further From Festival Linlithgow | @Furtherfrom | website | |
| FEBRUARY | 13-16 Feb 2020 | Winter Words Festival Pitlochry | @PITLOCHRYft | website |
| 20-23 Feb 2020 | Granite Noir Aberdeen | @GraniteNoirFest #GraniteNoirFest | granitenoir.com | |
| 20-29 Feb 2020 | Paisley Book Festival | @BookPaisley | tbc | |
| MARCH | 4-8 Mar 2020 | StAnza Poetry Festival Scotland's International Poetry Festival, St Andrews | @StAnzaPoetry #StAnza19 | stanza poetry.org |
| 7 Mar 2020 | Wee Write! | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com/weewrite | |
| 14-31 Mar 2019 | Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com | |
| 29-31 Mar 2019 | Big DoG Children's Book Festival Wigtown | @BigDog_Fest | Big DoG programme | |
| APRIL | 5-7 Apr 2019 | John O'Groat's Book Festival | Facebook page | |
| 19-21 Apr 2019 | Glasgow Zine Fest |
target="_blank">@GlasgowZineFest #gzf | Glasgow Zine Fest | |
| 26-28 Apr 2019 | Soutar Festival of Words | culturepk.org.uk/whats-on/soutar-festival/ | ||
| 26 Apr - 6 May 2019 | TradFest Annual showcase of TRACS tradition arts and culture Scotland, Edinburgh | @TradFestEd | edinburghtradfest.com | |
| 27 & 28 April 2019 | Colonsay Book Festival | @ColonsayBookFes #CBF19 | colonsaybookfestival.org.uk | |
| MAY | 2-5 May 2019 | BIG LIT: The Stewartry Book Festival Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway | biglit.org | |
| 10-12 May 2019 | Boswell Book Festival Dumfries House, Ayrshire | @bozzyfest | boswellbookfestival.co.uk | |
| 10-12 May 2019 | Ullapool Book Festival Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands | @UllapoolBookFes | ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk | |
| 10-26 May 2019 | Southside Fringe Festival Glasgow's Southside | @KeepItSouth | southsidefringe.com | |
| 17-18 May 2019 | Open the Door festival at Glasgow Women's Library | @womenslibrary | Open the Door | |
| tbc | Off the Page Stirling | @CultureStirling | culturestirling.org/off-the-page/ | |
| 19 & 20 May 2019 | Connect with Nature at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh | @BotanicsStories | stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/28605 | |
| 24-26 May 2019 | Coastword Dunbar | @CoastWordFest | coastward.co.uk |
|
| 24-26 May 2019 | May Festival University of Aberdeen | abdn.ac.uk/mayfestival | ||
| JUNE | 7-9 June 2019 | Cymera Book Festival | @CymeraF | cymerafestival.co.uk |
| 13-16 June 2019 | Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival Melrose | @BordersBookFest #bordersbookfest19 | bordersbookfestival.org | |
| 26-30 June 2019 | East Neuk Festival | @EastNeukFest #ENF2019 | eastneukfestival.com | |
| 29 June 2019 | Glasgow Comic Con Scotland's Comic Book Festival | @glasgowcomiccon | glasgowcomiccon.com | |
| JULY | tbc | Scot Lit Fest Scotland's virtual book festival presented by Saltire Society | @scotlitfest #scotlitfest | scotlitfest.scot |
| AUGUST | 1-11 Aug 2019 | Govanhill International Festival and Carnival (Glasgow's Southside) | @GovanhillBaths | govanhillbaths.com/festival |
| 2-4 Aug 2019 | Bute Noir Crime Writing Festival Isle of Bute | @ButeNoir #butenoir | Facebook page | |
| 2-11 Aug 2019 | Fringe by the Sea North Berwick | @fringebythesea2 | fringebythesea.com | |
| 3-28 Aug 2019 | Book Fringe | @Golden Hare Books @Lighthousebks | bookfringe.com | |
| 10-26 Aug 2019 | Edinburgh International Book Festival | @edbookfest #edbookfest | edbookfest.co.uk | |
| 19-25 Aug 2019 | ScotlandsFest at Edinburgh Fringe, from Luath Press | @LuathPress | ScotlandsFest | |
| 24 & 25 Aug 2019 | Beyond Borders International Festival of Literature and Thought | @BeyondBorders__ | beyondbordersscotland.com | |
| 29 Aug - 1 Sept 2019 | Islay Book Festival | @islaybookfest | islaybookfestival.co.uk | |
| 30 Aug - 14 Sept 2019 | McLellan Art Festival, Arran Celebrating late great Scottish dramatist and short story writer Robert McLellan | arrantheatreandarts.co.uk/mclellan-festival | ||
| SEPTEMBER | tbc | Skye Book Festival | @SkyeBookFest | skyebookfestival.co.uk |
| tbc | Spirit of Moray Book Festival Elgin | @librariesmoray #SpiritofMoray | ||
| 3-8 Sept 2019 | Outwith Festival Dunfermline | @outwithfestival #weareoutwith | outwithfestival.co.uk | |
| 10-15 Sept 2019 | Nairn Book & Arts Festival Inverness | @Nairn_Festival | nairnfestival.co.uk | |
| 20-22 Sept 2019 | Bloody Scotland Scotland's international crime writing festival, Stirling | @BloodyScotland #bloodyscotland | bloodyscotland.com | |
| 21-22 Sept 2019 | Words of War Book Festival The Black Watch Castle & Museum, Perth | theblackwatch.co.uk/events/words-of-war-book-festival | ||
| 26-29 Sept 2019 | Tidelines Irvine, North Ayrshire | @TidelinesFest | tidelinesbookfest.com | |
| 27 Sep - 6 Oct 2019 | Wigtown Book Festival Scotland's national book town's literary festival | @WigtownBookFest #wigtown | wigtownbookfestival.com | |
| tbc | Bookends Benderloch, Oban | |||
| tbc | Three Lochs Book & Arts Festival Strontian | threelochs.co.uk | ||
| tbc | Byres Road Book Festival Glasgow's West End | @byresrdbookfest | byresroadbookfestival.com | |
| OCTOBER | tbc | Imprint Book Festival East Ayrshire | ||
| 3-5 Oct 2019 | Ness Book Fest Inverness | @NessBookFest1 | nessbookfest.wordpress.com | |
| 4-6 Oct 2019 | Bookmark Blairgowrie, Rattray & The Glens, Perth & Kinross | @bookmarkblair | bookmarkblair.com | |
| 17-20 Oct 2019 | Berwick Literary Festival Northumberland | @BerwickLitFest | berwickliteraryfestival.com | |
| 17-20 Oct 2019 | Word on the Street - Dingwall's October Art Festival | word-on-the-street.weebly.com | ||
| 18-31 Oct 2019 | Scottish International Storytelling Festival Edinburgh | @ScotStoryCentre | sisf.org.uk | |
| 2020 - 23-25 Oct | West Over Sea - Tobermory Book Festival | @TobermoryBookF1 | Westoversea.co.uk | |
| tbc | Orkney Storytelling Festival | @OrkneyStoF | orkneystorytellingfestival.co.uk | |
| tbc | Faclan Hebridean Book Festival An Lanntair, Stornoway | @anlanntair | anntair.com/creative-programme/faclan | |
| tbc | Tarbert Book Festival Argyll | @TarbertBookFest | tarbertbookfestival.org | |
| NOVEMBER | tbc | Wordplay Shetland Arts' annual book festival | @ShetlandArts | www.shetlandarts.org |
| 8-10 Nov 2019 | A Write Highland Hoolie! Mallaig's Book Festival | @WriteHoolie | a-write-highland-hoolie.com | |
| 13 Nov 2019 | Robert Louis Stevenson Day Annual week of events in Edinburgh and online in run up to RLS' birthday on 13 Nov | #RLSDay | ||
| 18-24 Nov 2019 | Book Week Scotland | @BookWeekScot | bookweekscotland.com | |
| 17-24 Nov 2019 | Uist Book Festival | uistbookfestival.org | ||
| 23-24 Nov 2019 | Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival Argyll & Bute | @coveburghhall | coveburghhall.org.uk | |
| tbc | Scotland's Winter Festivals | @Scotland | scotland.org/events/winter-festivals |